Changlings and Humanoid Imitation

[backstept]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but how come some of the founders can perfectly replace certain alien species, but the Female Leader, Odo and others can only do this sort of neutral appearance . . . 'trouble with the ears' etc?

if they have trouble with the ears, how do they manage to appear Romulan or Klingon or Human?


of course the practical reason is to differentiate them from other species . . . give them a 'default' appearance that's different than human
wouldn't want to confuse the average viewer

 

[Damask]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but how come some of the founders can perfectly replace certain alien species, but the Female Leader, Odo and others can only do this sort of neutral appearance . . . 'trouble with the ears' etc?

if they have trouble with the ears, how do they manage to appear Romulan or Klingon or Human?

They don't. Only Odo (and perhaps some of the Hundred) have issues. Odo's pretty much a young guy. A teenager even.

of course the practical reason is to differentiate them from other species . . . give them a 'default' appearance that's different than human
wouldn't want to confuse the average viewer

Yeah pretty much. I like the look. It's like they have to dumb down to Odo's level.

 

[Augustus]

I think the "make believe" reason they look this way is in some way to honor Odo or pay homage to him. Something like that?

I thought I read it somewhere..

 

[Damask]

I think the "make believe" reason they look this way is in some way to honor Odo or pay homage to him. Something like that?

I thought I read it somewhere..

Yeah I think this is it. When they first meet him they know he's a Founder but he doesn't know so they take a similar form. It's possible they just adopted the form as their standard form when dealing with people from the AQ.

 

[chris32482]

Yeah, Odo said in one episode that he wasn't skilled enough at shapeshifting yet to replicate a Bajoran/Human face. I always assumed that the female founder took that form just to mimmick Odo.

 

[Jono]

The Female Founder had no problems with appearing like Kira, she even fooled Odo with her appearance.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I think the Changelings possibly have a "default humanoid" template somewhere in them. A less-skilled Changeling like Odo may not be able to really alter the template effectively, whereas a skilled one can.

 

[nx1701g]

I always thought that the Founders when interacting with Odo took his appearance to honor him in some way. Though the basic template idea sounds just as good as any reason.

What I find curious though is that Laas in Season Seven was just as old as Odo and seemed to be better at replication.

 

[Damask]

What I find curious though is that Laas in Season Seven was just as old as Odo and seemed to be better at replication.

I'm sure Laas while being one of the hundered was older than Odo. He did say he fell in love with someone and outlived her.

 

[The Borg Queen]

The Female Changeling is the same actress that was one of the First Humanoids to evolve in the galaxy from the TNG episode "The Chase".

Perhaps there's more to it than them just being the same actress, which could explain the "default" humanoid appearance Odo has...

 

[Finn]

What I find curious though is that Laas in Season Seven was just as old as Odo and seemed to be better at replication.

I'm sure Laas while being one of the hundered was older than Odo. He did say he fell in love with someone and outlived her.

Not necessarily older. It is more likely Laas was discovered much earlier than Odo was, perhaps by centuries eariler, while Odo existed as a pool of goo much longer. For all we know Laas was left on an inhabitated planet while Odo was left on a barren planet.

 

[Damask]

Not necessarily older. It is more likely Laas was discovered much earlier than Odo was, perhaps by centuries eariler, while Odo existed as a pool of goo much longer. For all we know Laas was left on an inhabitated planet while Odo was left on a barren planet.

Well yeah. Laas was more experienced in shapeshifting then. We did see older Odo in Children of Time looking more human.